The Dathomir Mission Galactic Quest:A Star Wars FanFic Vol 2
by Fandompen
Summary: Jedi Rin Shander has moved on since his debacle in the Nagi system during his Jedi sabbatical a year before. Despite his near-death experience with the Nagai, and because of his history with them, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Jedi Mara Jade approach him about leading a team to convince the Dathomiri ruling Clan to provide the coveted Infinity Gates to the New Republic!


"The Dathomir Mission. Galactic Quest: A Star Wars Fandom Fiction; Volume 2," by Joseth Moore. 2017.

Jedi Rin Shander has moved on since his debacle in the Nagi system during his Jedi sabbatical a year before.

Despite his near-death experience with the Nagai, and _because_ of his history with them, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Jedi Mara Jade approach him about leading a team to convince the Dathomiri ruling Clan to provide the coveted Infinity Gates to the New Republic!

CHAPTER 1:

Long ago in a galaxy far, far away…

11 ABY. Yavin IV:

"…Jedi, defend!"

The red-headed, female human quickly presented her thin blue blade as its laser-quality flickered for need of repair of the hilt. Mara Jade had often complained to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker about having several of the academy's lightsabers fixed, but he would often remind her they were merely for training. Besides, he would tell them, eventually, each and every student of the Praxeum would have to quest for their very own Kyber crystal and construct their own permanent lightsaber anyway…like the Jedi of Days of Old used to do, was how Master Skywalker liked to put it.

The two humans were in the center of the training grounds of the new Jedi academy, located in the Grand Temple's top level, where the Rebel Alliance had used that very space for ceremonial gatherings in what seemed like such a long time ago for Jedi Master Skywalker, now! The other Jedi-in-training—called Padawan many years ago, during the Old Republic, but less called as such post-Empire—were all standing in a large circle, observing one of the myriad of stations of lightsaber-dueling by the Master and Mara. For she was already a legend within the Galaxy ("Skyriver," as Jedi Rin Shander incessantly suggested everyone to use for some reason!); one with a very checkered past, once having serve the evil puppet-master Emperor Palpatine, whom pulled the very strings of the infamous Darth Vader himself…they used to call Mara Jade the Hand of the Empire! As if _that_ weren't enough, she even had a smuggling career. And, now, for some reason, Jedi Master Skywalker took her in with the rest of his somewhat motley crew-of-an-academy and she was like _his_ right Hand!

Many within the Praxeum did not appreciate the legendary Mara Jade as Jedi Master Skywalker did, and, often, they let them _both_ know! Indeed, there were rumors that the two seemed a bit chummy for his Jedi Master to her Jedi-in-training.

It all seemed a bit silly to Jedi Shander. He was just old enough to remember, as a small child growing up in a village on Corellia, the repression of the Empire on many of its galactic subjects. To Jedi Shander, after The Fall, as some in Skyriver galaxy called the Empire's demise, he felt freedom for the first time in his very young life. And after experiencing the Empire for the first half of his life, everything else seemed mundane to even worry about!

Jedi Master Skywalker and Jedi Jade had completed the dueling station, for the sake of demonstrating to the rest of the students. Both he and Jedi Jade disengaged their lightsabers and stood, almost at attention, as if they were _still_ in the Rebellion's high-days of fighting the Empire. Master Skywalker looked about the whole group that ringed around the two of them; a nodding of satisfaction from the middle-aged human.

"I sense that this new crop of Jedi is growing much stronger in the Force," Jedi Master Skywalker exclaimed. Some greeted his words with a smile; others humbly bowed their heads in gratitude. "But don't let your guards down…I know I've said this many times to you all: but just because the Empire has fallen, that does _not_ mean that _peace_ has replaced it!"

There were nods of consent from many within the academy. Then, to signify the end of the training for the day, Jedi Master Skywalker gave a single clap with his hands—muffled, due to his right hand encased in that black glove of his; covering the mechanical appendage that served as a perpetual reminder to Skywalker of his near-death battle with Darth Vader!

The Grand Audience Chamber was, now, filled with young voices in conversation about the day's events. Some of the students grouping off into small groups and going off for a measure of free-time, but then soon after, it was back within the Chamber for a more low-key session of training for the young Jedi. But not for Rin Shander…

"Jedi Shander," Master Skywalker called out to him as he was walking off with a couple of his closest friends in the academy, Cray Mingla and Kirana Ti, "do you have a moment?"

He asked this while Jedi Jade stood just off to his side. Jedi Ti, Mingla, and Shander all glanced at one another. This can't be good!

Jedi Shander gave a reassuring nod to them both, and turned to walk over to Jedi Master Skywalker. He gave a slight bow upon reaching them. "How may I help you, Master Skywalker?"

Jedi Shander noticed how Jedi Master Skywalker and Jedi Jade shared the briefest of a look before Skywalker spoke. "Do you remember about a year ago, or so, of that situation you had on Nagi?"

 _By the stars!_ , Shander panicked within! It must have been that obvious, for Master Skywalker and Mara Jade both laughed.

"Not to worry, Jedi," Skywalker assured, "you've already paid for that Nagai star pod last year when you re-directed your stipend for your sabbatical toward the Nagi governance! This is about those Infinity Gates you used to go from Nagi to the Bespin system!"

Jedi Shander stiffened; his eyes going back and forth between Master Skywalker and Jedi Jade. "Are the Nagai still using them? I would have thought the New Republic was able to convince the Nagai governance to shut down those Gates since their system can be overridden and open a portal to all sorts of spacers that the Nagai wouldn't be comfortable with…trust me, I know from first hand!"

It was with _that_ statement from Jedi Shander that Master Skywalker and Jedi Jade glanced at each other, but with a more relieved countenance.

"And it's because of _your_ two trips out to the Nagi system _and_ discovering the Infinity Gates in the first place, why the Republic needs your experience with a mission…"

Mara Jade came into the conversation. By that time, the Grand Audience Chamber was emptied of the other Jedi, except for the three of them. "Given that the Nagai are, of course, a sovereign system, the New Republic can't really do anything about their use of the Infinity Gates…yeah, most other space-powers throughout the Galaxy _know_ the Gates' dual-purpose as a portal _and_ a weapon. But like the Republic, _they_ can't prevent the Nagai from using the Gates either. At least, not without a full-fledged war with them. And given that the New Republic has just won a costly war with the Empire a few years ago, after all those years, we're not exactly in the best shape to start a new galactic war! Another added push is there _have_ been a few systems that are actually trying to acquire their _own_ Gates!"

Jedi Shander's head snapped over from Mara Jade to Master Skywalker.

"Well, that implies there are more Infinity Gates," Shander said to both of them. "I thought I read in my research that the Kwa society had destroyed _all_ of them a hundred thousand, standard years ago?"

"What you researched is correct," Master Skywalker confirmed with a nod.

By that time, Jedi Shander was beginning to get confused. He made a disagreeable face before saying more. "Then, I don't understand, Jedi Master Skywalker and Jedi Jade…How could someone—a society; a system…how could someone reconstruct such a complex, ancient machinery from a hundred thousand years ago?"

"Unless someone left the manual behind," Mara Jade said with a bit of jest. "Look, we're just saying someone had found a way to reconstruct the Infinity Gates. And the reason why it's been almost a year between your discovering the Gates at Nagi and Bespin up until now is because the Republic had been sending out spies to discover who it was…"

Now Jedi Shander's eyes shifted to Master Skywalker. Skywalker did that thing where he wanted his student to figure out a mission or a problem on their own, so they could sharpen their practice with the Force…his voice went low—almost hypnotic, as he slowly stepped toward Shander.

"Search with your connection to the Force, Jedi Rin Shander of Corellia…who else could be left with such Force-abilities _after_ the fall of the Empire and the scattering, once again, of the Sith…who could have such imbuement of the Force that they are able to reach deep into history and _conjure_ up such Force-technology, used in deep-history to nearly wipeout various civilizations and the enslavement of those societies…?"

"By the stars…" Rin was finally starting to see the direct threat of a space-power having the ability _at all_ to even fashion such an ancient contraption, much less the space politics that went with it! He began to pace away from the two other Jedi. With the Force-connection between Jedi, and any other Force-sensitive beings for that matter, Master Skywalker and Jedi Jade could sense in Jedi Shander a powerful accessing of information in the young Jedi. It was like standing in the gushing flow of a river, as the water pushed against one's body, and nearly sweeping them off their feet and taking one down that meandering river within the Force! It was, perhaps, Jedi Shander's strongest feature as a Jedi.

Jedi Shander was so deep in that Force-River until Mara Jade started to become concerned that, perhaps, he was suffering some neurological side effects from that River! She started to say something to Skywalker until the young Jedi spoke.

"The Nightsisters…" Jedi Shander finally turned to face Master Skywalker and Mara Jade. "The Witches of Dathomir? I thought the last one died a few years ago—"

"Shelish," Skywalker said with a knowing nod of his head. "She did. She had a son that went on to be one of the galaxy's notorious assassins—he's still at it, from what I hear on my travels! But, as we all know, on Dathomir the power resides with the _females_. As far as I know, Shelish never had a daughter, and, like you said, Jedi Shander, as far as the Republic knew she was the last of the Nightsisters…so we thought!"

Shander was still working out the possible connections. Skywalker continued his prompting. "We need someone to go to Dathomir and see if we can actually get whoever that's constructing those Infinity Gates on the _Republic's_ side! Like Mara said, the Republic is not really up to any more drawn-out wars. _And_ , frankly, rather than trying to _stop_ the Dathomiri from building the Gates, why not utilize them ourselves?"

Skywalker said that with a shrug, as if it were some afterthought. But Jedi Shander was well-versed in galactic-politics!

"Master," he said after blowing out a sarcastic sigh, "I don't mean to speak out of place, but is that wise of the Republic? How can we expect other space-powers to find us credible when we venture against anyone else's use of the Infinity Gates, and then we turn around and use them ourselves?"

Jedi Jade gave an admonishing look at Master Skywalker as she responded to Jedi Shander. "Yeah, funny how some in the New Republic's council seem to have such blinders on when such galactic military power suits _them_!"

Mara Jade was one of those independent actors in the Galaxy. She was far more able to be objective about such space-politics when it came to the New Republic than Luke Skywalker was. Rin Shander had seen this on several occasions within a great many political debates among the students and Skywalker within the Praxeum.

"Look," Jedi Master Skywalker went on, slightly annoyed by Mara Jade's comment, "with the ability to teleport instantaneously anywhere in the Galaxy and invade whatever system they please without a second's notice is the biggest military threat the Galaxy has seen since Death Star 2! _That's_ why this mission is so important, and we can't get caught up on some false equivalencies between the New Republic and the Empire!"

Both Jedi Jade and Jedi Shander took Master Skywalker's clue and slightly bowed their heads with a, "Yes, Jedi Master."

"If I may, Master," Mara Jade continued, "of course the person doing this mission would be given a team to confront this." She gave a slight nod to Skywalker.

The Jedi Master expounded on Jade's point. "We have a short list of agents with the appropriate background for this type of mission and they've already been recruited for the job. Not a large group, but this mission is more diplomatic than it is military…honestly, Rin, the three others really are more for muscle, in case things get out of hand. We didn't want to send over exclusively Jedi; the Dathomiri are already isolationists as it is— _that's_ where your experience with the Nagai comes in best! Now, we just need the right person to _lead_ the crew…"

Master Skywalker's face was askance; Mara Jade's remained the steely.

Shander once again faced away from Master Skywalker and Jedi Jade; already thinking on the mission for a few more seconds. He returned his gaze upon them. "You realize that on my shortened sabbatical last year, I learned that the Nagai were the earliest to call _the Galaxy_ , Skyriver."

The two legends looked at each other.

"Is _that_ why you keep insisting the Praxeum call the Galaxy that," Mara Jade said; starting to lose patience.

"That's what I want out of this," Jedi Shander persisted. His eyes had, then, focused on Master Skywalker, since he was in charge. "I know you can find plenty of other Jedi to do this, but if you want _me_ to lead this, all I ask is that we have the _official_ Jedi archives to reflect the Galaxy's name as Skyriver…"

Shander's eyebrows were raised in a determined arch! Skywalker looked at Mara Jade with his _own_ brows raised, and all she did was shrug and gave an inquisitive look at the young Jedi. It was enough for Jedi Master Skywalker. Skywalker used one of his devices to share the coordinates that Jedi Shander needed to meet his crew and the ship that would be assigned to them. And with that, Rin Shander walked victoriously out of the Grand Audience Chamber, leaving the two galactic legends to wonder if they had misread the Force that day.

CHAPTER 2:

Days Later, Planet Dathomir; Quelli Sector, of the Outer Rim Territories…

The _Ranolfo_ was a relatively old ship within the New Republic fleet. It was one of the blockade runners during the early days of the Rebellion movement against the Galactic— _Skyriver_ Empire. The medium-sized, elongated starship was taken out of commission during the Civil War, before Master Skywalker himself had flown his T-65 X-Wing fighter and sparked the reaction to obliterate Death Star 1! As Mara Jade emphasized a few days ago to Jedi Rin Shander, the New Republic was _still_ re-building throughout the galaxy and yet showed scars from the Galactic War…refitting old vehicles like the _Ranolfo_ was a way of saving credits _and_ time.

Jedi Shander's team parked the _Ranolfo_ at a bit farther distant from the red and green planet than what most Republic motherships usually did, hoping to _not_ look threatening to the reclusive Dathomiri. Shander's team had already received permission by Dathomir's governing clan, Singing Mountain, to visit. But Jedi Shander didn't want to push his fortunes…

Every official Republic mission _required_ having some type of astromech droid on board! The droids were simply too versatile _not_ to take on missions, given their multi-purpose usage from astrophysics to serve as portable starship navigators to grunt work such as mining on asteroids! Jedi Shander's team had a BB-unit. One of the few brand new technological advances the New Republic actually put resources into since The Fall. The team's BB-unit was white with black trimmings. They decided to leave BB-77 on board the _Ranolfo_ ; again, trying to anticipate what might raise suspicion with the Dathomiri. Most likely, they would think the droid was recording and transmitting Dathomiri secrets to the Republic somehow. Never mind that the two Humans, the Tusken, and the Kaleesh could all do it with any one of their portable devices, but that was how such "diplomatic" missions worked any more in the days after the Empire.

The small Corellian shuttle disembarked from the blockade mothership from its ventral section, and went down to the planet's surface…

On board with Jedi Shander was another Human, Amyl Starrider. She was of mature age and from Coruscant. She had cropped hair, said very little, and had a career as a security detail for various galactic Senators…which meant she had been around for a while. Old enough to be Rin's mother! For that was _before_ the time that Emperor Palpatine had dissolved the galactic Senate and installed the regional Governors to act as feudal lords with some degree of autonomy.

Tusken people were famous the Galaxy-over, especially for their dogged individualism; even under the former Empire! But it was rare to see "Sand People" away from the desertous planet of Tatooine. Shanaal was dressed appropriately for the relatively humid climate of Dathomir, with its swamp-regions and sweaty forests. As part of the culture of the Tuskens, he preferred for his face to be covered with the thick wrappings of cloth. He also kept with the traditions of utilizing a partial face-mask, where he kept his translator up to his mouth. But the cylindrical, silver pieces normally associated with Tuskens were not on Shanaal's wrappings, with the exception of his eye-protectors.

Another society that utilized masks often were the Kaleesh. Undoubtedly, the most famous of them in Skyriver galaxy was General Grievous; an Imperial officer during the Clone Wars days. Kalsh, unlike Shanaal with his mask, did not need a translator. The Kaleesh were a lot more integrated into greater-Skyriver societies, so he was able to speak galactic-Basic. He was a lot nicer than he looked, by Humanoid standards, but that was the pattern that Jedi Shander noticed with his three companions: As Jedi Master Luke Skywalker said, they were more for "hardware" backup, in case his diplomatic mission did not go so well!

The shuttle landed on a pad that was a few meters from the main edifice of the governing Singing Mountain Clan. Surprisingly, the Dathomiri _still_ had not advanced to the level of space-travel! Several Dathomiri went on to other systems, usually for some type of mercenary work. But it was the visiting outlanders that always supplied the spacecraft. Just as Jedi Shander and his small team were doing at that point…

Surprisingly to all four of the _Ranolfo_ crew, the Dathomiri greeted the Republic mission with formality that Jedi Shander usually saw on more advanced worlds! The 'Mountain' Clan's officials, all females with crimson, lose-voluted gowns, lined the landing pad's walkway that led to the towering official structure. The _Ranolfo_ crew learned that the Dathomiri did not use the term _government_ , per se. It was reflective of the long traditions of a planet that was ruled by a myriad of clans rather than a highly-structure government. Nevertheless, Jedi Shander admitted to his team, later, that he was totally wrong about the Dathomir society and the dominate space-powers of the Galaxy had greatly underestimated them! Perhaps, the Republic mission later discussed, it was by design by the Dathomiri themselves?

It was a culture-shock for all four crew-members—two Human, one Kaleesh, and one Tusken—to see how subservient the male populace on Dathomir were! For the most part, they were cast as breeders and held at secondary class status, to put it diplomatically. It was something that the New Republic crew strongly disagreed with, but that was not Jedi Shander's mission at that time. It was hard for him not to speak up whenever he saw how the male-Dathomiri were dismissively directed away, scolded, and how undignified they were dressed. It was no exaggeration to say, _droids_ were treated much better on _Tatooine_ than how the male-Dathomiri were on Dathomir!

Diplomacy was a lot more than clinking drinking glasses and hand-shakes, Jedi Shander thought to himself. He could not see how the two most famous galactic diplomats, Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan and New Republic Chief of State Mon Mothma, could _do_ such diplomatic niceties and careers with societies that one, personally, had such antithesis toward!

After a brief time of light drinks—yet strong enough to soothe any potential nerves on either side!—the spokeswoman for Singing Mountain, Mataye, got up from her seat at the lavish table that she and the Republic mission were, and announced that it was time to have their meeting with the Singing Mountain Clan Mother, Isola, Singer of Night…

Male Dathomiri immediately began to clear out the dining section of the facility while Mataye escorted Jedi Shander and his team into the, rather, neo-primitive edifice that house the Clan Mother's administration. Again, Jedi Shander had serious issues of the Dathomiri culture as it related to treatment of its male "citizens," but he and his team were highly impressed with the mixture of antiquities and modernism within the Clan Mother's Lair, as Mataye called the chamber.

There were other clan-officials standing at Clan Mother Isola's side as she sat on an extravagant chair at the head of a more utilitarian table. By Humanoid standards, she was quite beautiful—pale, pretty much like all of the Dathomiri people were; with long black hair that hid behind her long neck and slender shoulders. Jedi Shander didn't know the physiology of Dathomiri Humanoid enough to guess her age, but she definitely was a fully-grown adult. Apparently, scarlet was a common theme of the Dathomiri, especially the ruling female class. For the Clan Mother's gown reflected much the same style that the _Ranolfo_ crew had seen of the Mountain Clan's officials since arriving there. Perhaps reflective of the primary color of the planet itself?

Clan Mother Isola gave quick introductions of her aides as they all took seats at the large table. Then it was Jedi Rin Shander's turn to introduce his tiny mission…

"Well, young Jedi," Mother Isola said in her low, urbane voice, "if I had to venture a guess of your mission, here, I'd guess you've figured out about our technological means to manufacture Infinity Gates…"

Amyl, Shanaal, and Kalsh all cut their eyes to their boss. Indeed, it was not a stretch why any visitor would deliberately land on Dathomir. Yet, the Republic mission did not expect for the Clan Mother to go directly to the subject matter!

It made no sense for Jedi Shander to even try to play coy. "You are very perceptive, Mother Isola," he said to her with a slight nod of respect.

She leaned back in her ornate chair—a throne, really—and looked at Shander for a long time with a slight frown. This made the Jedi and his team glance at one another with discomfort.

"With all due respect, Jedi Shander, but weren't you the Jedi that _stole_ a star pod from the Nagai last year?"

 _By the stars, I had forgotten all about the wanted postings on me when I was in Cloud City!_ , Jedi Shander remembered in utter embarrassment! Pretty much _everyone_ in the New Republic's official capacity had heard and read about his mix-up on Nagi. That would have happened even if the Nagai governance had not placed a bounty on Shander's head last year for, indeed, him stealing one of their tiny starships as he tried to get away from what appeared to be a trap for him by a Nagai official who seemed to turn on him once Jedi Shander disclosed to him that he knew about Nagi's ties to the ancient Kwa society—the facilitators, makers?, of the _original_ Infinity Gates!

"I can't say that was a proud moment in my life," Jedi Shander, actually, graciously handled the somewhat rude reference. At least by diplomacy-standards. His team and Mother Isola's aides all merely sat silently as the two talked. But the two teams' eyes were both saying volumes! "Honestly, it was a misinterpretation on _my_ behalf of a Nagai official…the whole affair ended up costing me my sabbatical. As many in Skyriver know, we, Jedi, don't get a lot of time off to ours—"

" _Skyriver_ ," Clan Mother Isola said; stiffening in her chair. "I'm genuinely impressed, young Jedi. Not too many Humans know that name…you _had_ made good use of your time on Nagi!"

As was custom within galactic diplomatic circles, Jedi Shander did not need to verbalize a gratitude, but merely bowed his head. Indeed, with ancient societies such as the Dathomiri, it was a show of respect for said-visiting alien mission to even bother to _know_ an archaic, esoteric terminology from another planetary system. Even when it was not related to one's own culture. It was just enough for that large block of ice to crack; one that many diplomats fail to crack due to pride or fear…

The meeting went on for another three hours! Infinity Gates were an extremely technical matter, at best. And when one added the galactic-politics that went with it all, it was actually a short time!

The exchange between Jedi Rin Shander and Clan Mother Isola, Singer of Night, went so well, she made an official invitation to the New Republic to send over a top-level ambassador! It was not a guarantee that the Dathomiri Clandom would accept future terms for them to provide Infinity Gates to the New Republic, but it was an open invitation that no one in the Republic would have guess to even be there just days ago.

Despite his ringing success with his mission on Dathomir, Jedi Shander could not help but wonder to himself: _Now, let's see if word about this good news with the Dathomiri spread as fast as that bad news from last year about that Nagai star pod!_

CHAPTER 3:

Colla IV; Inner Rim Region…

Given that the New Republic decided to have a rotating system for their new Council, the city-planet of Coruscant was not as big of a player in the galactic, political stage. Though the meta-metropolitan planet served as host to the New Republic a few times already in the early days of the Republic.

For the contemporary period of time, Colla IV was the seat of the rotating Republic council. It was made famous back in the Clone Wars days for the manufacturing of those dreaded droidekas—those very same rolling wheels of steel that would unfold and extended legs to chase their prey while their gun turrets fired endlessly!

Jedi Master Luke Skywalker was still on Yavin IV, still making sure to guide his nascent Jedi academy. For Skywalker to go off on a long-distant mission on behalf of the New Republic had to be pretty serious of a situation. Otherwise, Master Skywalker was always with his students; taking on the role of the sole Jedi Master in _all_ of the Galaxy. At least, that anyone knew…

In his stead, fellow-Jedi Mara Jade had traveled to meet up with Jedi Shander and the rest of the _Ranolfo_ crew as they all would brief the New Republic's officials on the Dathomir mission and Clan Mother Isola's invitation to the Republic! Since Master Skywalker and Mara Jade were the ones to offer the assignment to Jedi Shander, it was considered proper for either of them, or both, to attend the mission's briefing.

Mara Jade spotted Rin Shander on the grounds of the rotating headquartered facility on Calla IV. He was just outside the mid-rise building, watching the vehicular and pedestrian traffic; standing off to a corner. Shanaal, Kalsh, and Amyl were all inside the headquarters, ready to debrief New Republic heads pretty soon.

"Jedi," she called out to him amid the busy city block. She was dressed in a more traditional Jedi business attire—tunic with her shock of red, cascading hair bundled up in fancy braids. Like Shander, her lightsaber hilt was clipped to her utility belt; always at the ready!

He extended a hand to greet her, but Jedi Jade unexpectedly hugged him with a big smile!

"Oh…Uh, you might want to be careful doing that," Jedi Shander suggested to her, actually serious and feeling…uncomfortable.

"But I'm so proud of what you and your team have done, Rin! Besides, Master Skywalker said that he was loosening the old rules about Jedi prohibitions on personal relationships. Not that I'm sugg—"

"I get it, Jedi…"

They shared a laugh. They both started to walk toward the entryway of the Republic's headquarters for the briefing.

"You realize what an asset the inclusion of the Dathomiri Clandom would be for the New Republic, Rin? We potentially could get more than just the Infinity Gates—"

" _Potentially!_ "

"—We could also have access to their ancient ways of conjuring Force-technology and Force-psychology! Believe me, Rin, that could come in handy with some of the spacers the Republic _still_ has to deal with, even after The Fall!"

They waited just feet way from a floor-lift, so they could talk in private.

Jedi Shander made a soured face. "I still would like to talk with their representatives someday about how they treat their _male_ citizens—and they _are_ citizens!"

"Agreed," Jedi Jade said with raised hands, as if in surrender. "I just think about my conversations with Luke's sister about all the systems she's had to deal with in negotiating…she's told me several times that it's best _not_ to try to pull a sovereign system to the right side of the Force to hard the first time you sit with them. It only fortifies the Reactionists within their respective societies!"

"Indeed," Shander said with a nod.

They entered the floor-lift and took it to the level where the briefing had already begun. Mara Jade greeted everyone in the chamber, taking on her more formal posture than she had just minutes before with Jedi Shander. Everyone else either stood from the seat they were sitting on, or they remained standing until Jedi Jade and Jedi Shander took their own seats…another ancient practice from well-before even the Clone Wars days; when Jedi were both respected _and_ feared. It harkened to the days of the Old Republic; when Jedi were the guardians of the Republic!

And the door to the chamber had shut.

~fin~


End file.
